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May
24, 2003, 16S:
Special Commencement Issue
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Bechtel
Achievement Award: Ankur
Luthra , EECS
Bechtel
Engineering Scholarship:
Jengyee Liang, IEOR
Departmental
Citation Winners:
Nathan Huebsch, BioE
Mark Wan, CEE
Peter Chen, EECS
Kenny Kamrin, Eng. Science
Marc Oman, IEOR
Melissa Santala, MSE
Siddharth Patel, ME
Brian Quiter, NE
Other
Departmental Awards
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Photo
by Peg Skorpinski
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Nuclear Engineering
Citation: Brian Quiter
If Brian Quiter had no burning desire to improve the world he would be
happy to live in Tahoe and do his three favorite things; rock climb, ski,
and brew beer.
Instead he aspires to be a professor and is clambering up that path by
beginning a Ph.D. in nuclear physics at Cal next year.
Brian’s professional interest lies in radiation detection. For the
past three years he’s worked with NE professor Stan Prussin researching
detectors and imagers of radioactive materials.
“Brian is a joy to work with. He has an incredibly strong physical
feeling for the world and how it works. He is on his way to becoming a
first-rate researcher and will likely play a leadership role in the future,”
says Prussin.
When Brian filled out his application to get into Berkeley Engineering,
he picked NE because “it seemed like the coolest sounding major.”
He figured he would change his major after getting to Cal, but he found
himself compelled by the material and decided to stay.
“The department gave me the flexibility to take the chemistry, physics,
and math classes I enjoy,” he says.
Brian’s parents are not engineers, his dad is an architect who designs
theme parks and schools and his mom works for a public policy research
group. Even so both Brian and his brother were bitten by the engineering
bug. His brother got his EECS degree from the University of Colorado at
Boulder. Brian first became interested in Berkeley when his brother considered
applying.
“My brother wanted to apply but thought he didn’t have a chance
to get in from out of state. Luckily my senior year we moved from Minnesota
to Los Angeles,” he says.
The hardest part about Berkeley Engineering for Brian was getting in.
During his four years at Berkeley Brian has never let the pressure get
to him. Not only can he fall back on his favorite outdoor activities to
have fun and let off steam, but he has no problem making time for fun
and separating it from work.
“So many people procrastinate, and when they procrastinate they stress
out. Don’t do either! Have fun when it’s time to have fun and
work when it’s time to work. I’ve been yelling at people about
that for the last three years,” he laughs.
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